HMS Levant (1758)
Levant's sister ship in the Coventry class, HMS Carysfort
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| History | |
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 Great Britain
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| Name: | HMS Levant |
| Ordered: | 6 May 1757 |
| Builder: | Henry Adams, Buckler's Hard, Hampshire |
| Laid down: | June 1757 |
| Launched: | 6 July 1758 at Buckler's Hard |
| Completed: | 16 June 1759 at Portsmouth Dockyard |
| Commissioned: | October 1758 |
| In service: |
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| Honours and awards: |
Expedition against Martinique, 1762 |
| Fate: | Broken up at Deptford Dockyard, September 1780 |
| General characteristics | |
| Class and type: | 28-gun Coventry-class sixth-rate frigate |
| Tons burthen: | 595 34⁄94 bm |
| Length: | |
| Beam: | 33 ft 11 in (10.3 m) |
| Depth of hold: | 10 ft 6 in (3.20 m) |
| Sail plan: | Full-rigged ship |
| Complement: | 200 |
| Armament: |
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HMS Levant was a 28-gun sixth-rate frigate of the Coventry class, which saw Royal Navy service against France in the Seven Years' War, and against France, Spain and the American colonies during the American Revolutionary War. Principally a hunter of privateers, she was also designed to be a match for small French frigates, but with a broader hull and sturdier build at the expense of some speed and manoeuvrability. Launched in 1758, Levant was assigned to the Royal Navy's Jamaica station from 1759 and proved her worth in defeating nine French vessels during her first three years at sea. She was also part of the British expedition against Martinique in 1762 but played no role in the landings or subsequent defeat of French forces at Fort Royal.
The frigate was decommissioned following Britain's declaration of peace with France in 1763, but returned to service in 1766 for patrol duties in the Caribbean. Decommissioned for a second time in 1770, she was reinstated at the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War and sent to the Mediterranean as part of a small British squadron based at Gibraltar. Over the next three years she captured or sank a total of fourteen enemy craft including an 18-gun American privateer. In 1779 she brought home news of an impending Spanish assault on Gibraltar, ahead of Spain's declaration of war on Great Britain.
The ageing frigate was finally removed from Navy service later that year, and her crew discharged to other vessels. She was broken up at Deptford Dockyard in 1780, having secured a total of 31 victories over 21 years at sea.
Levant was an oak-built 28-gun sixth rate, one of 19 vessels forming part of the Coventry class of frigates. As with others in her class she was loosely modelled on the design and dimensions of HMS Tartar, launched in 1756 and responsible for capturing five French privateers in her first twelve months at sea. Orders from Admiralty to build the Coventry-class vessels were made after the outbreak of the Seven Years' War, and at a time in which the Royal Dockyards were fully engaged in constructing or fitting-out the Navy's ships of the line. Consequently, and despite some Navy Board misgivings, contracts for most Coventry-class vessels were issued to private shipyards, with an emphasis on rapid completion of the task.
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Wikipedia